Learning photography

“Being a photographer is making people look at what I wanted them to look at” …. Ruth Orkin

Central Park South Silhouette, New York City, 1955

I’m a frustrated photorapher, I really really wanted to learn photography using a DSLR camera and learn to tweak the manual settings. But I’m too lazy to even read the manual of Jeff’s Nikon D80. I’m a point-and-shoot camera user, from my Canon Powershot digital camera, I’m currently using Panasonic Lumix LX3 which takes brilliant wide-angle photos. But as they say, magnificent and award-winning photos are not because of the camera, it’s because of the photographer. True, even photos taken with a camera phone with great composition, framing and lighting are better than mediocre photos taken with the most expensive DSLR camera.

Such is the case with Ruth Orkin, an award-winning photojournalist and filmmaker. I stumbled upon her portfolio, Orkin Photo Archive, and I love all her photos. Candid shots, New York city and still life subjects are the things that appeal to me. Orkin’s photos captured the ordinary day-to-day life in New York city extra-special. She takes pictures anywhere and anytime, while filming and even when just looking down at her apartment, just like the photo below…

Red Hot by Ruth Orkin

Ruth Orkin’s photos were taken between 1930s to 1980s, at that time, there were no Photoshop and Lightroom to enhance her photos. Only film cameras at that time so I just can’t imagine how precious those rolls of film are in her photography. At present, we’re lucky to have digital cameras so that we can just be like trigger-happy on taking shots and just select the good ones and delete those blurry photos. Framing and lighting can be post-processed using Photoshop and Lightroom. I’m guilty of using these programs because it helps me in correcting the lighting and the framing of my shots.

Practice makes perfect, right? I shall take my camera into a photowalk some time to get to know more of its functions and not just use the Intelligent Auto mode and preset modes. Besides, I need to hone my photography skills to be able to take pictures of accessories I sell online and not just rely on Adobe, haha…

Comments

  1. I agree, her photos are so beautiful and worth keeping. I also love taking photos and sometimes, it irritates Hubby. Kasi kahit na nasa busy sidewalk kami, I would stop walking and tell Hubby to stop walking too para lang makapag shoot ako ng photos. Ang sa akin lang, as much as possible I want to capture every moment of our life through photography. I want to learn how to use Photoshop. Hehe..

    Lots of love,
    .-= Golden´s last blog ..The First Rain =-.

    [Reply]

  2. If your camera has an anti-aliasing function, make sure
    to always have it on and your pictures will certainly thank you.
    In digital photography, errors may not be as
    costly since most digital cameras enable you to take a sizeable amount of
    shots without the need for pricey film. I advise a tripod or
    strong bottom simply due to the actuality that your camera’s shutter
    will be open for several mere seconds and you definitely want to make guaranteed that your video camera
    is completely nonetheless in the course of that time.

    [Reply]

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